A common understanding of sustainable production principles and the identification of sustainable manufacturing practices among practitioners are key starting points in studying how manufacturers are making their operations more sustainable. However, there is a lack of insight in the literature connecting conceptual sustainable production principles, and the practices reflecting these principles. Using semi-structured interviews founded on the sustainable production principles posed by the Lowell Center for Sustainable Production, this paper presents an outlook of how companies in different industries carry out manufacturing practices related to the sustainability production principles. Results showed that the majority of sustainable manufacturing practices remain strongly centered on the environmental dimension of sustainability, with the greatest number of practices emanating from principles concerning energy and material conservation, and waste management. Similarly, reactive sustainable manufacturing practices prevailed over proactive sustainable manufacturing practices, as most of the practices aimed to comply with regulatory and market pressures. Quality and environmental management systems were acknowledged as important tools for putting sustainable production principles into practice; while Swedish environmental and social regulations were found to drive sustainable manufacturing practices. This study connects sustainable production principles with sustainable manufacturing practices and opens the way for further studies on a global or sector-specific scale.Job satisfaction assessment Performance appraisal ISO 9001 supporting training and competence Key performance indicators 9. The communities around workplaces are respected and enhanced economically, socially, culturally and physically.

Small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) have inherent characteristics, which require specific solutions for improving the sustainability performance of their operations. The purpose of this paper is to increase the knowledge on barriers and enablers for the adoption of sustainable manufacturing by manufacturing SMEs and to provide insights into what enablers can be used to overcome existing barriers. Taking, as a starting point, a systematic literature review, this paper presents a categorization of barriers and enablers for the adoption of sustainable manufacturing by manufacturing SMEs. In total, seven categories for classifying the barriers and enablers for the adoption of sustainable manufacturing within SMEs were identified: organizational, managerial and attitudinal; informational; governmental; financial; training and skills development; market and business context; and technological. Additionally, this study elaborates on what barriers could be mitigated through the enablers. This study found specific enablers with the potential to mitigate a significantly higher number of barriers and referred to them as ‘critical enablers’. SMEs aiming to adopt sustainable manufacturing practices or improve their sustainability performance are encouraged to focus on the enablers in these categories. This paper synthesizes and facilitates interpretation of the existing body of evidence on barriers and enablers for adopting sustainable manufacturing in SMEs.